To help celebrate the NFL’s 100th season, each week will feature an NFL 100 Game of the Week. Each game is a nod to a momentous game played, a fierce rivalry that spans decades, a matchup of original teams and/or a game in which history was made .
The NFL has designated the INDIANAPOLIS COLTS-NEW ORLEANS SAINTS matchup as the NFL100 Game of the Week because the contest features the teams from Super Bowl XLIV. On Feb. 7, 2010, in Miami, Fla., the Saints dedicated their 31-17 victory to the New Orleans community, ravaged four years earlier by Hurricane Katrina. Trailing 10-6, Saints head coach SEAN PAYTON surprised everyone by calling for an onside kick to open the second half, and the Saints recovered to set up a go-ahead, 16-yard touchdown pass from DREW BREES to PIERRE THOMAS. The Colts went back on top, 17-13, with a 4-yard touchdown run by JOSEPH ADDAI, but the Saints shut out Indy’s high-powered offense over the game’s final 21 minutes. Brees guided New Orleans on a nine-play touchdown drive to take a fourth-quarter lead, hitting JEREMY SHOCKEY from 2 yards out, and TRACY PORTER returned an interception 74 yards for a touchdown, the final points in the Saints’ first world championship.
AFC SOUTH FIGURES TO GO DOWN TO WIRE:
The TENNESSEE TITANS (8-5), who’ve vaulted into the heart of the AFC playoff race with four straight wins, host the HOUSTON TEXANS (8-5) on Sunday (1:00 PM ET, CBS). The two organizations that sit knotted atop the AFC South not only share roots in the city of Houston, they also meet twice in the season’s final three weeks, including a Week 17 rematch at NRG Stadium. And don’t count out the INDIANAPOLIS COLTS (6-7), who are still in the hunt thanks to a 3-2 division record.
- Tennessee quarterback RYAN TANNEHILL last week completed 21 of 27 passes (77.8 percent) for 391 yards and three touchdowns with one interception for a 140.4 passer rating in the Titans‘ 42-21 win at Oakland. Tannehill joined AARON RODGERS (three games in 2011) as the only players to complete at least 75 percent of their passes with a passer rating of 130 or higher (minimum 10 attempts) in three consecutive games in a single season in NFL history. Tannehill also joined RUSSELL WILSON (five games in 2015) as the only players with four consecutive games with at least two passing touchdowns and a passer rating of 125 or higher in NFL history.
